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Watchtower Industries P-665 Paladin
The P-665 Paladin is one of the most famous post-war combat robot designs. The third in Watchtower's line of combat automatons, the Paladin was one of the most affordable units on the market. Easy to program, simple to upgrade and possessed of human-like capabilities, it was used in a great variety of roles such as patrol, supporting human elements, police duties or colonial defence. Widely used by Watchtower's associated PMC forces and numerous buyers on the frontier. History The precursor to the Paladin, the Knight, entered development in late 2495. As the colonies began to become increasingly dangerous, Watchtower, at that time much smaller and geared towards defence solutions, began to design the Knight to aid colonial police forces. Simplistic and cumbersome, it was designed for street patrol, intended to prevent hostile attacks. While well armoured, it was too slow to pursue targets and too unintelligent to be effective. Instead used as stationary guards, they sold in limited numbers, but warranted a follow up model. The Errant was the second generation, designed to replace the Knight. In an attempt to make it more effective, the armour was lightened and its size reduced so it was closer to human dimensions. However, its CPU was still too crude to be of effect, and was only useful for patrol of perimeters, ideal for defending compounds, checkpoints or corporate buildings. The Paladin itself began as a new generation unit, buoyed by advances in robotics and automation. Initial work began in 2549, intended to be marketed to the UNSC as an inexpensive and expendable soldier. Due to cutbacks and design issues, it wouldn't enter prototyping until 2558. At this point, the UNSC and major corporations had begun investing in automated combat robots too, putting competing products on the market with the Paladin. When the Paladin did enter production, its main advantages were it was both reliable and inexpensive, though lacking in sophistication. Initially used by or sold to Watchtower associated PMCs, other mercenary groups, corporations and colonial militia, the UNSC turned down autonomous platforms like this, preferring flesh and blood soldiers or heavily armoured drones. The Paladin however proved to be hugely popular, even being purchased by cash strapped insurrectionists. Design The Paladin was built with many inexpensive and off the shelf component that were designed for reliability, not performance. Paladin was also designed to be easily upgraded using Watchtower or third party components, and easily programmed to specific stimuli. Sensors CPU and Electronics Armour Weaponry While possessed of decent strength, being almost 50% strong than a human, it has two integrated weapons. In its left arm it carries a short ranged laser, firing electrically charged darts to neutralise threats, with an internal magazine of 10 darts, and an electronically charged baton, capable of breaking bones and knocking out a target with impunity. For combat it is generally issued with a firearm of some description, such as assault rifles, pistols, grenades or even heavy ordnance. Most weapons are preprogrammed into it (Though Watchtower insists on using their line of firearms for it), allowing it to fight as any soldier. It has sufficient programming to be able to operate and reload the weapon efficiently, deploy explosives or even switch to a sidearm. Powerplant and Motor Systems Variations P-665A 'Grunt' P-665B 'Wolf' P-665C 'Prime' Users